You Know What You Are Doing. Stop It!

1964, when I was in the third grade,  the curriculum included a thick book for us to go through as part of our geography class: Japan.  We studied the culture, the language, the cities.    Nowhere do I remember a mention of the war 20 years prior nor do I remember my father saying anything.  It was another 20 years later when I bought a Mitsubishi my father voiced an opinion about the manufacturer of the Zero planes which shot at him.   It was then I did the math of the time passing since the war and how my father had quietly dealt with the death of childhood friends in front of his eyes and alongside him.

My father never harbored animosity against the Japanese.  He never boycotted the  economy and industry of electronics by Japanese manufacturer’s in the 1960’s and 1970’s.  In fact, he maintained communication for years with the widow, who had been interned as a child, of a non-veteran he had met 20 years after the war ended.   HOWEVER, he never downplayed the seriousness , the intensity, the angst, the destruction the War and politicians had caused.  His years in the Pacific in intelligence, in the infantry, in the Air Core, in the battles portrayed in the movie “The Thin Red Line” were his own knowledge and testimony of the destruction and power capable by leaders of any nation.

Today the memory of the tragic and purposed events of 9-11-01  and 9-11-12 are remembered.  The memory is important for the families who lost loved ones, the children who were born after their father died on 9-11-01, the families of those who were called to service after 9-11-01 and lost their life, the children who have parents serving today, and the families of those four serving in Benghazi.   In addition,  those who come from the middle-east and living in a free America, and disavow the tenets of the terrorists. 

It is this last category which is causing much controversy.  The ability to separate oneself, because of physical similarities, from the acts and tenets is justifiably important.  BUT the memory of 9-11-01 is important to be left isolated for this reason:  A lesson for all to revolt at any hint of terrorism infiltrating any  peaceful community, religion, or government.   When we confuse the memorial we confuse the message of caution, the message of beware, the message of respect life. A separate day,  after 9-11, would be more impacting and well received.

When  Senators are playing poker as a vote goes out, to put us in a position that may result in eventually sending more troops on the ground, they are disavowing the sacrifices of the armed service members. They are confusing the responsibility and seriousness of the actions being suggested.

My father, who would be 94 years old had he lived past 2005, was a highly intelligent engineer who saw things as working or not working.  Those blunt categories were then further classified as requiring improvement or remedy or tossing out and starting over again.   We always knew where my father stood as a matter of principal and his unconditional love, being 100% for his family.    So when he would say to us as children and even in later years to his grandsons:  “I know what you are doing. Stop it.”  There was no justifying…no explaining…no excuses.   He had stated the case and resolution.

So to those who are confusing the memorial of lives lost on 9-11-01 and 9-11-12,   to those who are playing on the job they were elected and paid to do,  to those who trivialize or ignore the Constitutional directives for war  I say:

You know what you are doing.  Stop It.